Central Government has taken various steps to strengthen Central Bureau of Investigation so as to reduce pendency of cases, which are as under:- (i) Approval for appointment of 66 Public Prosecutors has been conveyed to CBI.
FM reduced rate of taxation from existing 10 per cent to 5 per cent for individual assesses between income of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs. This would reduce tax liability of all persons below Rs 5 lakh income either to zero (with rebate) or 50 per cent of their existing liability.
Shri Arun Jaitley has said that the shares of Railway Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in stock exchanges. The Government will encourage strengthening the CPSEs through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions and soon create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’, he added.
General Budget 2017-18 in Parliament today said that affordable housing will now be given infrastructure status, which will enable these projects to avail the associated benefits.
In order to facilitate higher investment in affordable housing, the Finance Minister in his budget speech proposed that affordable housing will now be given infrastructure status, which will enable these projects to avail the associated benefits.
In a significant step to cleanse the system of funding of political parties, Shri Jaitley said that donations to political parties can soon be made by purchasing electoral bonds from authorized banks. The Finance Minister said that the Government will soon frame a Scheme in this regard and an amendment is being proposed to the Reserve Bank of India Act to enable the issuance of electoral bonds. He said that a donor could purchase bonds from authorised banks against cheque and digital payments only. These bonds shall be redeemable in the designated account of a registered political party within the prescribed time limit from issuance of bond, he added.
It is proposed to merge the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) for Income-Tax with AAR for Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax; and create common AAR. It is proposed to make the orders passed by the authority under section 10(23C) of the Income-tax Act, appealable before the Tribunal.
In order to address the issue of thin capitalisation, a proposal has been made that the interest paid by an Indian company or permanent establishment of a foreign company, shall not be allowed as deduction in computing its taxable profit subject to certain conditions.
For the new capital for State of Andhra Pradesh which is being constructed by innovative land-pooling mechanism without use of the Land Acquisition Act, the Union Finance Minister proposed to exempt from capital gains tax all persons who were holding land on 2.6.2014 – the date on which the State of Andhra Pradesh was re-organised – and whose land is being pooled for creation of capital city under the Government Scheme.
Regarding Metro Rail, the Finance Minister informed that a new Metro Rail Policy will be announced with focus on innovative models of implementation and financing, as well as standardization and indigenization of hardware and software. This will open-up new job opportunities for our youth. A new Metro Rail Act will be enacted by rationalizing the existing laws. This will facilitate greater private participation and investment in construction and operation, he added.
